


Adhesion

by cocinerosyco



Series: Adhesion [1]
Category: American Idol RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, Bonding, M/M, Made Up Science, Mildly Dubious Consent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-03
Updated: 2021-01-03
Packaged: 2021-03-12 23:07:09
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,675
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28518360
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cocinerosyco/pseuds/cocinerosyco
Summary: David has always been cold since before he could remember. But when a strange man walks up to him and insists there's a cure, David doesn't know what to believe.
Relationships: Andy Skib/Neal Tiemann, David Archuleta/David Cook
Series: Adhesion [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2089080





	Adhesion

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written and posted on LiveJournal in 2010, so reader beware. A note on the dubcon tag - Archie's 18 in this, but reading it with 2021 eyes, it does feel a tad sketch. A decade after I wrote this and I'm like, you know, maybe the dad has a point.

If anyone had ever asked David, which they hadn't, because he didn't really have any friends outside of his siblings and some of his cousins, he would have said his favorite season was winter. Winter was fun and snowy, and Christmas was in winter and it was a time for remembering family and friends and celebrating what you had. But most of all, it was because David felt _normal_ during winter. No one looked questioningly at the three layers of sweaters he wore, or thought he was strange for wrapping himself in multiple blankets (as far as David was concerned, snuggies were one of tv's greatest products). No one tried to make a joke ("Feeling a little chilly today?") and best of all, he didn't feel like a freak when he went outside.  
  
David never went outside in summer. He was too embarrassed to be seen dressed like that, with long pants, and long sleeves, a sweater over his shirt, a jacket over that, and with his lips still slightly purple. There was nowhere he could relax. Even at home, where he was at least understood, and loved, the thermostat was set to the appropriate temperature for normal people, for his parents and brother and sisters. And at church, the one place where he thought he should feel at peace, beneath God's watching eye, even there he received strange looks for what he was. He knew what he was, and he knew that everything in life and everything he was was in God's hands, and He had made David the way He intended. David just wished that he knew what he had done wrong, to make God punish him like this.  
  


~~~  
  
David was not happy. Using the excuse that David needed some new jeans before he started his freshman year at BYU, his mom was dragging him out to go shopping with her. David had tried every bit of logic he could think of - he could order clothes online, he didn't need anything, he was looking forward to reading the book he'd ordered online and hadn't gotten around to yet, he'd promised Jazzy he'd help her practice piano - but his mom held firm.  
  
David had learned a while ago that the trick to finding a bit of warmth in the summer was to layer thick, warm fabric with looser clothes over it, to hide the fact that he was layering at all in 95 degree weather. He thought his genius moment though, came with the discovery of those chemical heatpacks that football players used in the winter. He would be able to place them strategically to supplement areas that were prone to being more cold than others. It also kind of helped that scarves were really back in fashion. He could wear one in summer and people might think that he just had really poor fashion sense (that, David didn't doubt) rather than that he was heat deficient. The looks hadn't been as bad when he was a kid, but a few years back the condition was heavily publicized for some reason - David didn't really know, all he knew was that it made his life harder to handle.  
  
If he didn't know better, David would have said his face was burning as he dutifully tagged along after his mother, giving one word answers when she asked him for his thoughts on pairs of jeans and button down shirts. While the staring was usually pretty heavy, it felt even more so today. And what was worse, some guy was following them through the mall. As much as he didn't want to be there, David was glad for his mother's presence. He didn't get harassed as much when he was with his parents. David just tried to avoid the guy's eye and kept his head down.  
  
David was largely successful until his mother left him in the food court to go use the restroom. David sat down next to a large planter and tried to make himself invisible.  
  
"Hey, how's it going, I'm Andy." The guy from earlier, who'd been just, staring at him, had just plopped down in the seat opposite of David.  
  
David mumbled a response. What was he supposed to say? He looked around to see if his mother was in sight yet.  
  
"So, I know what's up with you." Andy leaned back in his seat.  
  
Great, he thought morosely, another one of *those* jerks. "So what?" David responded, sure that his bravado was totally not working. He glanced down at his gloved hands.  
  
"So here's what," Andy leaned forward. "I used to have the same problem."  
  
David took in Andy's bare arms and the sunglasses dangling from the v in his t-shirt. "Yeah, sure, whatever." David bit his lip. Maybe he should go find his mom and tell her he didn't feel well and that they should go home. At this second, all he wanted to do was go home, turn on the space heater, and curl up under the blankets.  
  
Andy didn't seem to notice David's misery. "Seriously, man. I used to be H Deficient." He reached out to grab David's arm, saying "I know how to fix it. I know people who can help you."  
  
This last statement made David want to shiver and explode at the same time. In the end what came out was a whimpering protest.  
  
"Just. Leave me alone. Don't talk to me." He stood up and moved to walk toward the restrooms when Andy stood up in front of him.  
  
"Look. Take my card, okay. It's got our website address with some information. And my number's there if you wanna call and talk to someone or you change your mind, okay?" He tucked the card in David's hand and David stuck it in his pocket more to get rid of Andy than any intention of looking at it. He'd throw it away later.  
  
"We can help you, I _promise_. You can live your life like a regular person. Just think about it, okay?"  
  
David stared at Andy for another second, and then ducked around him, not quite running towards the restrooms and almost running smack into his mom.  
  
"Hey Mijo, are you okay?" After a moment, she got a clear view of his face. Her voice instantly changed from happy and calm to concerned. "David, are you okay? Do we need to go home? Did something happen?"  
  
David thought about telling her everything, but there had been so many similar incidents in the past that he couldn't bear to tell her. He forced a smile on his face. "No, Mama, nothing happened. I'm just feeling a little sick. Do you think we could go home? I just want to lie down awhile."  
  
His mom reached up to feel his forehead, in a motherly fashion, even though there was little chance that his forehead would tell her anything, and patted his cheek. "Of course David. Of course we can."  
  


~~~  
  
The second they walked in the front door, it felt like a weight was lifted from David's shoulders. He smiled weakly at his mom, and told her he was going to try and sleep a little. He went up to his room, closed the door and moved the heavy cover so that it fully blocked the door (and kept the heat in...somewhat). David took off his shoes and quickly put on another layer of socks, and grabbed a few more heatpacks on his way towards his bed. He sat down, and as an afterthought, grabbed his iPhone too. His parents didn't think he needed a laptop yet, as they had a perfectly good desktop computer in the office downstairs, but they'd been willing to buy David an iPhone, and it was this that he curled up with to access the internet.  
  
After checking his e-mail to see if the few online friends he had made had sent him anything, he started to browse around music related sites. David figured if he could have the choice of anything he wanted to do in life, it would be something to do with music. He wasn't sure yet what he wanted to do with it, and he didn't know what kind of effect his condition would have on him, and he didn't think his parents would understand, but that's how he felt, anyway.  
  
His arm was going numb and he turned over to see if he was just pinching blood away or if he needed to break out another heatpack, and he felt something poke him in the side. He awkwardly dug his hand under the other covers and into his pants pocket. Andy's card.  
  
The card was simple, white, _Andrew Skib, HDO_ on the front in block script, along with a phone number and a web address. Despite the certainty that this was just some sort of sick joke, and David really didn't need to get his hopes up, he typed the address into his phone and hit enter. The site was simple, a picture of people on the beach at the top, the rest of it text. David began to read.  
  
~~~  
  
An hour later, David was just starting to take in the information he'd read. If this site, if the group, whoever they were, was right, then everything he'd been taught about his disability was a lie. David tried not to think about the possibility that everyone in his life had lied to him about this - it made him angry but sad at the same time and he didn't know what to do with either emotion just then.  
  
David had always been told that they didn't know what caused David's condition; that it just *happened* to some people. Unexplainable. It was just God's will. David had grown up with the knowledge that God was testing him, testing his faith. And David tried to be what God wanted him to be, he tried to be kind to other people, to love and respect his parents, to be patient and trust in Him. For the past year or so, he'd started praying more forcefully for an answer to why God had made him this way. He had never received an answer. David's mind worried at the idea that this might be an answer.  
  
According to this organization's information, heat deficiency was caused by a genetic defect that hampered a person's ability to regulate body temperature. That made sense to David, but why was this the first he was hearing of it if it was actually true? What the site said about a cure was also confusing. It mentioned something about balancing and counterparts and genetic markers, and he got the impression that someone else needed to be involved?  
  
David set his phone aside, and wrapped a blanket around himself. In any case, he'd have to wait until morning to talk to his parents about it. Feeling cautiously hopeful, David drifted off, barely noticing the shivering that rocked him to sleep.  
  
~~~  
  
David was the first of his siblings to wake and join his parents downstairs. It was unsurprising, considering the early hour at which he went to sleep. He told his parents good morning and put some bread in the toaster. Pushing the button down, David took a deep breath and turned to face his father.  
  
"So, I met this guy in the mall yesterday."  
  
David's father rose an eyebrow. His mother finished taking her sip of coffee, before breaking in with "Oh, is that what happened yesterday? Did he say something to you?"  
  
David kept his eyes on his dad. "He said. He said that he used to be like me, but he wasn't like me anymore." Speaking faster, to get everything out before his dad cut him off, "and he gave me his card with information on it. I looked up the address, and they said there's a cure. And I didn't really understand what it was, but isn't it something we could, you know, look into? I thought it might help, a little. Maybe." He finished his impromptu speech and waited for a reaction or response. The toaster popped up behind him. David's mother's mouth was slightly open, helpless to say anything. David's dad looked as though he was gathering his thoughts.  
  
"David. Let me tell you something about those people." His dad carefully folded the paper and set it down on the table. "These people, they want to manipulate you. They don't care if you're cured or not. They want to take you from your family and pair you up with some stranger so they can claim that they sell the truth when all they have to give is false hope and propaganda."  
  
David's heart sank. "But, the guy at the mall. He looked fine. He, he was wearing a short sleeved shirt. He was _fine_."  
  
His dad sighed. "David, I know you think he looks fine. He's probably been perfectly normal his whole life. I wish you had talked to me before filling your head with all this false information. You need to remember that your condition is out of our hands. We need to accept the burdens that we have been given to carry in this life, and hope for forgiveness in the next."  
  
David's eyes started to tear up.  
  
"I'll tell you what," his dad continued. "Why don't you go on up and get dressed and we'll make a trip over to church. I know you always feel better in church."  
  
That was a lie, actually, but David nodded his head anyway, and slowly walked upstairs. Well, that was that. David didn't know what to believe. Was there a cure and his father just wouldn't believe? Or was the cure a hoax and these people just wanted to make money off of David? There was no way to really know, David supposed.  
  
~~~  
  
Late that summer, David was in final preparations for his move to a college campus. He'd been in contact with his roommate, and his roommate had been informed about his condition. He didn't sound too happy about David being his roommate, but David still held out hope that they might get along and perhaps become friends, after a time. The summer was as bad as ever, and in the months since he'd found out about Andy Skib and his group, David had struggled with the choice of accepting what his parents believed he could not change, and seeking more information that could make his life so much better if it was true.  
  
He was on a trip to gather some supplies for college. No one accompanied him this time - he needed to start going out without his mom's support. It was hard, but David wanted to be able to handle himself away from home. Once he left for college, he didn't think he could take coming back having failed. He paused just inside the discount store, and dug around his pockets for his list. He felt uneasy and he didn't know why. It could have been the shopping, but David thought something more, maybe. He tried to unfold the list, struggling a little with his gloves. Finally he figured that he could deal for a few minutes and took the gloves off to finish unfolding. His hands immediately felt colder and his fingers numb. David stuck the open list under his arm and reached for the gloves in his pockets to put back on, when someone bumped into him, startling him and knocking him down to the cool tile floor.  
  
His hands hurt so much where he'd caught himself on the floor that he'd sort of fallen sideways and landed on his side on the floor. The person who'd knocked him down called out a distracted "sorry" over their shoulder, oblivious to how much that had hurt.  
  
David was working up to pushing himself up off the ground when a hand appeared in front of his face.  
  
"Hey man, let me help you up?"  
  
David looked up in surprise to see two men, one he didn't know, tall and solidly built, holding out his hand to David, and the other, Andy Skib.  
  
"You."  
  
Andy's mouth twitched in a slight smile. "Hi David. How've you been?"  
  
David eyed the other man's hand, still held out to him. Then he turned back to address Andy. "How do you know my name?"  
  
"We've been keeping an eye on you."  
  
The man David didn't know made a snorting noise. "Jeez Skib. Don't have to scare him off." He turned back to David. "Promise you, that wasn't as creepy as it sounds. We just wanted to make sure you were doing okay, since we hadn't heard from you after Andy here spoke to you." He wagged his hand a little to David, who was still sitting on the cold floor. "I'm Dave Cook, by the way. You gonna leave me hanging here?" His eyes glinted with amusement and his voice was friendly.  
  
"Uh, sorry." David reached out and grasped Dave's hand. Dave grasped his hand to pull him up but David immediately tried to pull his hand away. Oh Gosh it burned, so badly. David whimpered and struggled to get his hand free. He gave a huge pull and Dave let go, startled.  
  
Someone was making this loud panting and sobbing noise, and it took David a few minutes to realize it was him. He looked at his hands, expecting to see blisters or at the least, reddened skin. Instead, his hands looked like they ever looked, cold and pale. He looked up at Dave and Andy. Dave looked pale, while Andy just looked surprised. Andy turned to Dave, mouth still hanging open.  
  
"Man, Dave. I swear. I didn't know. I wouldn't have sprung this on you, you know that, right?"  
  
Dave sighed, eyes still on David. "Yeah, Andy. I know." He stood up and moved back a few feet and it felt like all the coldness in the floor rushed into David's body all at once. Dave seemed to notice David's involuntary shiver. "Jesus Skib, help him up and let's get out of here." Shoppers coming in the store passed the three of them, oblivious to anything that was happening.  
  
Andy seemed to shock back to himself and he quickly reached out a hand to David, not waiting for it to be grasped, but just pulling him up. "Sorry man. Here, put your gloves back on."  
  
David took the misplaced gloves from Andy and quickly put them back on.  
  
"Alright, c'mon, let's get you out of here and someplace where we can talk." Andy tried to hustle him out the door. It took David a minute to remember why he wasn't supposed to trust Andy Skib.  
  
"Wait. Where are we going? And how do I know that you're telling me the truth about any of this?" David mentally dug his heels in. He noticed Dave fidgeting behind Andy.  
  
"You don't. Not yet. But aren't you at all curious about what just happened?" And of course David was curious. "You can find out, if you come with us. We can help you."  
  
David was still uncertain.  
  
"David." Dave's voice was soft behind Andy. "Just come with us. It's important. Trust us."  
  
David couldn't say anything to that, so he nodded instead, and Andy and Dave hustled him out of the store and to their car in the parking lot.  
  
~~~  
  
Two hours later, David was more inclined to believe them. He'd seen several people who had claimed to have the same condition as he had, and the same that Andy used to have, apparently. He'd also met Andy's "cure", a man named Neal, who freaked David out at first, but was definitely scarier in appearance than in personality. From what Andy and Neal had told him, there was a connection between the genetic abnormalities causing heat deficiency and pheromones that could be released by certain people and then absorbed by people like David, allowing a balance to strike between cold and hot body temperatures.  
  
"So, I just need to find someone who like, smells right? And then I won't be cold anymore?"  
  
Andy looked at him for a moment, before looking over at Dave expectantly. "Dave?"  
  
David watched Dave nod before speaking up. "Normally, it's not that easy. It can take years for someone with heat deficiency to find that other person - we call them providers, for obvious reasons. Usually people have to make due with poorer substitutes." Dave took a few steps towards David. "Now you, on the other hand, got lucky. As it happens, I'm your provider."  
  
"You're...?"  
  
"Your provider." Dave gave a little laugh. "Actually, it's odd, because I didn't think I'd match up with anyone. I'm something of an aberration around here."  
  
David must have looked confused again, because Andy spoke up. "Dave's what we call a heat sink. He can help anyone with H Deficiency who needs it, like when you fell on the cold floor back there, but he's never felt the way providers do about their eventual partners. Until you, apparently."  
  
Dave picked the thread of the conversation back up. "That burning sensation you felt? That was usual, though perhaps a little more extreme on your end, because of who I am and what you are to me, but I don't usually feel anything." He looked at David intensely. "But I felt it - I felt you - today."  
  
David took a moment to think. It was hard to know what to believe. On one hand, Andy and Neal seemed to be telling the truth, but the whole situation seemed so strange that David couldn't be absolutely sure. And what would happen if he accepted this as true, and Dave became his...provider? He struggled to find his voice. "So, what happens now?"  
  
"Now you make a decision," Neal, who had been sitting quietly for a while now as Andy and Dave explained the situation, spoke up. "You decide whether you want to just go home, accept that this is your life and always will be, or you allow Dave to be your provider and put the man out of his misery." He looked up at Dave, who glared back. "And if you choose door number two, I guarantee your life will be better. Different, definitely, but better." He looked at Andy, with a softer expression on his face.  
  
"What happens if I say yes?" David asked, hesitantly. "I mean, my family doesn't know what's going on, and I'm starting college in the fall..." he trailed off.  
  
"Nothing changes if you don't want it to, with the exception of Dave in your life, and of wearing short sleeved shirts more often." Andy grinned at him.  
  
All four of them were silent for a minute, before Dave asked Andy and Neal to leave for a few minutes. Neal looked at Dave steadily for a few minutes, then nodded. Dave waited until they had left the room and the door closed behind them to turn back to David.  
  
"David. I know you don't know me, yet, and you probably think I don't know anything about you. But give us a chance." David watched as Dave ran his hand over his head, messing up the carefully arranged tufts of hair. "Give me a chance. When I touched your hand today, I felt you, and it hurt. Let me help you. I can make it better, if you let me." He sat down where Andy had been sitting across from David. "And I. I've been waiting for this. Everyone just thinks that I. I didn't think this would happen and now that it has, I don't want to let you go away." David's eyes grew wide and Dave realized what he'd said. "No no no, not that you can't leave. You can. But I really wish you'd stay. You can do all the things you wanted to do - go to college and live your life. It'd just be with me and it'll be warm, instead of freezing and lonely." It seemed to be Dave's last ditch effort to convince David to stay and do this, this, bonding, or whatever they had called it.  
  
David looked at Dave's face, open and honest and expectant. He looked like he was going to be told to forget about it. David considered what he had been told by his father and his church and what Andy and Neal and Dave had told him. He remembered his initial thoughts when he looked at their website. He felt the burning feeling in his hand when Dave had grasped his palm. He saw the surprise on Dave's face as he let David's hand go. He thought about his family's reaction. He remembered summers of previous years. He remembered staring, and teasing. Being the butt of jokes at school, being an embarrassment to his younger brother. He thought of being cold, forever, of never taking a risk, of never enjoying life. He thought of what God would want him to do. And he looked up at Dave's face, and smiled.  
  
"What would we need to do?" David asked softly.  
  
Dave stared at him. "You mean, you'll do it?"  
  
David thought about it for another second, to be sure of his decision. He didn't know much about this whole thing, but he knew that it was permanent and he had to be sure. "Yeah." He felt absolutely calm.  
  
Dave's eyes brightened and his mouth slowly curved into a smile, which quickly changed to a grin. "I'd hug you right now, if I didn't think you'd knock me out the second I touched you."  
  
David remembered how much Dave's hand had hurt, and asked again "What do we need to do?"  
  
Dave seemed to grow nervous again. "There's a mental component. And a physical component. From what I know, they tend to both happen during the er, same act."  
  
David was inexperienced, but he could read between the lines. "You mean, sex, right? That's the physical component?"  
  
Dave looked down at his hands. "I know you're only 18. It's only the once, then you'd be stable. We wouldn't have to do it ever again, not if you're not comfortable with it." He looked back up at David, eyes squinting, mouth twisted.  
  
David had never really considered sex before. It was something in the far future, something his church put off and not one of the things that tended to occupy his mind. But looking at Dave, and thinking about how that would feel, to be held and touched, and not thought of as potentially contagious, and to be so warm. And if he believed in what he had heard today, if he was willing to take this risk, then it meant that Dave was the person he was meant to be with. It should have taken him longer to know his own mind, but it didn't. He looked at Dave and nodded. "Okay."  
  
~~~  
  
Dave had informed Neal and Andy that David had agreed to the bonding, and then had taken David by his gloved hand and guided him up to Dave's room. Entering the room, David could see the bed, a dresser, a tv mounted on the wall, and could see the house's extensive yard from the window on the other side of the room. All of this was unimportant now, though. He turned to find Dave leaning against the door, watching him. Dave looked almost as nervous as David felt. Dave stepped away from the door and walked slowly towards David.  
  
"You should know," his voice was horse. "That burning feeling might get worse before it gets better. You've been cold so long that it might get a little rough." He reached up and ghosted his hands down David's face. David sighed when he felt the heat _pouring_ out of Dave's hands. Dave settled his hands on David's waist before leaning in, lightly brushing his lips against David's. To David, it felt like the time when he'd accidentally eaten some chili pepper seeds and he may as well have set his mouth on fire, the way it burned across his lips and tongue. As short as the kiss was, David gasped and wanted more.  
  
David reached up with his hands and pulled Dave's lips down to fully meet his own. David probably should have backed away and then kissed and then backed away, but he was fine with feeling that burning sensation travel through his mouth, and down his throat, and into his chest. He thought maybe he should be worried that he was doing irreparable damage to himself, with the intensity of the heat he was feeling, but he couldn't stop himself.  
  
Dave was the one to finally pull back, breathing hard, and shaking a little. He looked down at what David was wearing and reached out his hands to grasp David's scarf. "This okay?" he asked, softly. David smiled at him and he started unwinding clothing from David's body. The scarf, his jacket, two layers of shirt. His shoes, socks, pants. Each item set aside and burning hands soothed the frozen skin newly exposed. David was in just boxer shorts and a tshirt, and feeling a touch embarrassed, when Dave took off his own clothing. David knew his eyes were probably wide as they took in his soon to be partner, naked for the first time in front of him.  
  
Dave looked at him, a bit nervously. "You okay?" It was said softly, as though he might spook David and push him to leave.  
  
David smiled back at him. "I'm fine. Promise."  
  
"Okay then." Dave guided him back against the bed, and pushed him to a lying position on top of the blankets. "Let me know....let me know if you get uncomfortable," he stated quietly.  
  
David nodded quickly as Dave leaned down and eased his fingers underneath David's last remaining shirt. He slowly peeled it up, and over David's head. When David's whole body let out a shiver, Dave leaned forward and covered David's newly bared chest with his own. The warmth now hitting him at the core of his body made him feel so relaxed. He didn't think anything had ever felt this good. Ever.  
  
While Dave was kissing him again, and moving up and down David's torso with his hands and mouth, he seemed reluctant to remove that last bit of clothing.  
  
"Dave," David whispered softly. "I won't break. You can, you know. Take the rest of it off."  
  
Dave looked at him for long moments, before reaching down and pulling David's boxers carefully down and around his erection. He tossed the shorts aside and reached a hand to circle around David's erection. The warmth there was too much to handle and David let out a cry. Dave stopped immediately, thinking he had done something wrong.   
  
"No, don't stop, don't stop. I'm fine." Dave's hand felt better than he should have wanted it to feel. It felt rough and hot and perfect, and nothing at all like the times when David had touched himself.  
  
Dave broke away from David and reached over to the nightstand, returning with a bottle of lubricant and a condom.  
  
David eyed both, more than a little nervously. He thought he could figure out the mechanics of it, maybe, but he hadn't really ever considered what would have to happen. Dave seemed to notice his unease, because he leaned down and pressed his lips to David's. Dave's lips moved softly against David's and he felt comforted a little by the contact. When Dave broke away, David opened his mouth to speak. "Why?" When Dave looked at him puzzled, David clarified. "Why is this important, for you, I mean? Why do this for me? I don't know if I understand." His hands tentatively reached up to stroke Dave's chest, unsure of what else to do.   
  
Dave's hand reached up to hold David's against his chest. It burned, like it had the first time, but either David was used to it, or something was already happening, because it didn't hurt so bad. David forced himself to pay attention to what Dave was saying.   
  
"I never thought I'd bond with anyone." His voice was soft and calm. "There aren't a lot of heat sinks, and it's generally thought that they don't feel the need to be with one person, the way providers do." He clasped David's hand and brought it up to his lips. "I've always felt that hole though, no matter what anyone told me. And now," his mouth curved up into a smile, "I'm glad I ignored what they all said. And now I get you. We get each other." He kissed David's fingers, then separated one from the rest, and sucked it into the hot wetness of his mouth.  
  
David's mouth fell open as he started breathing more heavily. He felt his eyes start to close, before Dave leaned down to nuzzle at his neck, mumbling "Keep your eyes open David. Watch me."  
  
David struggled to keep his eyes open as Dave moved his mouth down David's neck, to his chest. He made David moan as he circled David's nipples with his tongue and David was in agony as Dave continued down his body. David struggled with the desire to buck off the living furnace stretched over him, setting him on fire with licks of his tongue and brushes of his calloused fingers (David had to double check to make sure no part of him was *actually* on fire), and with the need to pull Dave closer to him, to rock his hips up into the man above him in the unconscious attempt to find release. Not knowing whether the heat would become too much and consume his body just made it worse and more delicious at the same time.  
  
His body felt tight in anticipation as Dave moved further down and took David in his mouth. David took a quick, deep breath, and felt his whole body shudder. He could hardly see as Dave started sucking and a tingling sensation started spreading through his body. He was close, so close, he was ready to come, and then, nothing. David let out a whimper in protest and opened his eyes to see Dave had pulled off.   
  
"Hey, eyes open, okay?"  
  
David nodded, helpless and tense.  
  
Dave picked up the lubricant and flipping the cap open, poured some into his hand. He ran his fingers through it and brought it down to David's entrance. It felt slightly cool, but that didn't even make sense, David's mind thought hazily. Everything was so hot, it was difficult to think. Dave kept an eye on him as he carefully inserted his finger into David. Had David been in his right mind at this point, he was sure it would have felt strange, but strange was something he didn't care about at that moment. After pushing in and out a few times, Dave inserted another finger, and began to stretch David, to prepare him for the final part of their bonding. Just before pulling out a final time, Dave crooked his fingers up and David let out a yell.  
  
"Please, please, please," was all he could say and he didn't even know what he wanted, just that he wanted Dave to keep going, to never stop.  
  
He heard the crinkle of a plastic wrapper, and then a quick intake of breath, and he looked at Dave, above him, concentrating with eyes closed. David mustered up control of his limbs enough to reach out to touch Dave's hand, and to intertwine their fingers. "Dave."  
  
Dave opened his eyes, and smiled at David. David nodded jerkily and Dave took himself in hand and slowly, slowly pushed inside David.  
  
David thought he was prepared, but this burned so hot he didn't think he could stand it. He started to whimper, and struggle against Dave's greater weight.  
  
"Shhh... David. David, look at me." Dave's hand, no longer hot, touched his forehead. "David, listen to me, open your eyes."  
  
David struggled to open his eyes, but the burning sensation was flowing through his body. He yelled; he couldn't stand it one more second.  
  
"Babe, c'mon."  
  
The soft cajoling, and Dave's warm hand on his face pushed him to open his eyes.  
  
They were there.  
  
Just as suddenly as David was on fire, the fire that was burning him alive was extinguished. He took a deep breath. Dave - his _provider_ and how amazing was that - was smiling softly at him.  
  
"Hey, babe. You okay?"  
  
David felt his eyes fill up with tears, how embarrassing. He nodded at Dave. He was better, no longer on fire, but he was wet, all of a sudden. His mind fuzzily recognized it as sweat, of all things.  
  
"You ready to finish this?"  
  
David's face must have given him the right answer, because Dave slowly pulled out and firmly pushed in again. All of David's muscles that had suddenly relaxed as the bond had kicked in remembered that he hadn't in fact, come yet, and that was starting to become a necessary thing.  
  
He started to push back, trying to hurry Dave along. His muscles tensed, almost to the point of pain, as Dave pushed in and out, faster and faster. David couldn't draw a breath in and he couldn't keep his eyes open anymore and his stomach muscles tightened and on the next thrust, came hard on his stomach.  
  
"Shit," Dave muttered, his thrusts stuttering as David had tensed. "Shit, shit, shit." Dave let out a long groan and came as well. He held himself up a moment, before collapsing in exhausted relief on top of David.  
  
David couldn't move anything. His newly warmed muscles may as well not even have existed. He was barely conscious, his mind was at peace and he was so tired. So tired.  
  
~~~  
  
When David woke up, there was barely light to see by in the room. He had no idea if it was morning or evening. He pushed himself up from Dave's chest, where he had been tucked up against after he fell asleep, and sat up. He had nothing on, with the exception of a sheet around his waist, but he felt fine. And not cold in any way. He had never felt like this. A drop of liquid fell on the sheet, and he only realized after looking at it a moment, that it was a tear. He started to hiccough, and the hiccoughs turned into sobs and he was holding his face in his hands, in disbelief. He felt arms come around him from behind. Dave was murmuring "it's okay, it's okay, you're okay" in his ear.  
  
~~~  
  
Some time later, David had finally relaxed and was lying against Dave's chest, just staring out the window as his partner stroked his hair. Dave told him that Andy and Neal would have called his family as soon as they knew that David was staying here. David was hopeful that his parents would accept his decision, and there was no arguing the fact that he was better, that he was cured. Knowing what it felt like to be normal, David wouldn't go back and change a thing, no matter how angry or saddened his parents might be. The cool summer morning breeze came through the window and caressed David's skin, and he closed his eyes, and quietly fell asleep once more.  
  
~~~  
  
A week after bonding with Dave, the two of them stood on David's front porch, and knocked on the door. David thought it was maybe silly to knock at the door of his own house, but he wasn't sure how his parents were going to take this. He was normal, but he was also tied for life to another man, of whom his parents knew nothing. He looked down at his tshirt, bare arms practically glowing in the summer sun, they were so white, but he smiled anyway, and reached for Dave's hand. Dave smiled at him, knowing exactly how he felt, and as the door opened, they both turned to meet what would come.


End file.
